SimCity (DS) Review
Posted by Cory Moore on 07.12.2007
You’re put in charge of a city. Whether that community flourishes or is subjected to an eternal state of welfare is in your hands.
Title: SimCity DS
Publisher: EA Games
Type: City Simulator
I never thought SimCity would be that good. Really. When my friend brought it over on the SNES one weekend during elementary school, I thought, “Building a city? What’s the fun in that?” Boy was I wrong. I’ve bought all four PC installments, reached my goal of a megalopolis on each one, and have sung the series’ praises ever since. When I heard SimCity was coming out for the DS, I was intrigued. Most of the console ports have sucked – save for the aforementioned SNES release – because they suffered from slowdown, clunky interfaces and just about anything else that could go wrong. Even so, I had high hopes when I heard the DS game would be armed with touch screen controls that would mirror the mouse clicks of a PC. Let’s dive right in and see how the newest edition of the franchise stacks up…
Graphics:
The city’s landscape takes on a modern art direction much like that of SimCity 3000. The individual structures look quite good when viewed up close, but when you zoom out for a broader scope, the decrease in sharpness is obvious. The menus, advisors and cut scenes, meanwhile, take on an animated identity. At first, it does look tacky and doesn’t mesh well. As you progress through the experience, however, you begin to notice the lack of detail in the city’s graphics. That is when you’ll begin to appreciate the colorful balance that the animation brings to the table.
Gameplay:
Like its PC big brothers, SimCity DS puts you in the shoes of a mayor managing your own community. In Build-a-City mode, you construct from the ground up. Establishing a power grid, building homes via residential zones, giving SimCitizens places to shop with commercial zones, and supplying them with places to work through industrial zones are the foundation to any good city. To flourish, you must supply schools, police departments, recreational venues and so on. With the help of a trusty advisor, your goal is to lead the city on a path to greatness. The scenario mode, Save-a-City, assigns you to rebuild a city that has gone by the wayside. It’s your job to meet a predetermined goal for revitalization while following a strict budget and timeline. The third mode, Sister City, makes its debut on the Nintendo DS. In this mode, you and a friend link up wirelessly to share details about your projects while unlocking world-famous buildings to add some spice to your town’s scenery.
Made possible by the unique interface of the DS, the touch screen controls make this game feel like a true SimCity experience. The top screen provides the detailed overview of your city. The bottom screen acts as your toolset; construction, graph views and budget menus are controlled with a tap of the stylus. The configuration works well overall, but the touch screen can be very sensitive at times. The largest room for error comes when constructing zones and roads over large stretches of land. You often end up filling two or three more spaces than needed, even if you’re clicking and dragging carefully. Thankfully, the developers recognized this inconvenience and added an “undo” button, which comes in handy when you’re low on cash. Watch out for the bulldozing, though. Once you demolish something, it’s gone for good.
Shopping for homes, clothes, and jobs is just a stylus tap away in SimCity DS.
The touch screen controls will make longtime followers of the franchise feel right at home, but SimCity has always been about more than just building a city and watching it grow overnight. The series has made its name off how you customize and shape your city to suit your personality. Most of what gamers have come to expect is found in this portable package. You still have three tiers of RCI zones (introduced in SimCity 2000), tax grids to make or break your relationship with the city slickers, and a news ticker filled with random musings (and sometimes important news) of the day. SimCity DS does feel scaled down from its PC counterparts, though. The water grid is included, but incorporating the system is not necessary for town growth. Instead, a water supply acts as an insurance policy; the inclusion of pumps and stations reduces the risk of fires flaring up and wrecking havoc. Speaking of disasters, they pop up randomly, and there isn’t an option to enable them at will as in the computer games. The terrain selection has been neutered, too. The game launches with a preset list of maps that only vary in water and forest values. So if you want to isolate your crime-inducing casino on a mountain with its own police department, you’re out of luck. But considering this is a handheld adaptation of SimCity, the developers did a great job of including the best aspects of the series while ditching filler that could have made the game feel bloated.
Sound:
The plodding, elevator-like soundtrack that is synonymous with SimCity returns on the DS. It won’t ever grind on your nerves, but it can get bland after a while. It actually fits as thinking music. The sound effects that accompany alerts, icon clicks and mini-games serve their purpose, but again, they’re forgettable. You won’t regret turning the sound on, yet you may yearn for something more invigorating after a few minutes.
Every city has to start somewhere, right?
Lasting Appeal:
If there is one thing you can always count on from SimCity, it is that every game in the series has tremendous replay value. It’s an open-ended experience that is surprisingly addictive in short spurts. Building up your city takes days and sometimes weeks of casual play. When you’ve covered the map and unlocked the many goodies along the way, you can always improve by revamping neighborhoods that have been run down by crime. When you’re done with that, a disaster hits and your job becomes to repair the damaged areas of the city. The only complaint here is that the game only includes one save slot. If you want to start from scratch with another community, it’ll come at the expense of your current one. It’s a minor flaw, but a flaw nonetheless.
Fun Factor:
Like any good strategy/management game, SimCity excels in delivering an intellectual challenge over adrenaline-pumping action. The game puts the uniqueness of the DS to good use, too. Every so often, mini-games pop up for you to participate in. These short happenings range from putting out a fire by blowing into the built-in microphone to celebrating your tenth anniversary as Mayor by igniting fireworks with a stylus touch. While the mini-games may seem corny at first, their interactivity is an aspect of the game that makes this handheld edition of SimCity worth seeking out.
It’s GODZEELLA!!! Or…just a giant ape that escaped from the local zoo? Whatever it is, you do battle with him in one of the mini-games found in SimCity DS.
The 411:
SimCity DS takes the best elements gamers have come to love about the metropolitan-creating franchise and wraps them up in a neat, miniature package. SimCity DS has included more elements to target the casual gamer, but these features have been carefully designed as to not alienate or insult the hardcore fan base the franchise has developed over the years. EA knew how to adapt the game’s formula to Nintendo’s dual screen handheld, and it shows. It’s not a complete SimCity game by any means, but it will fit nicely on the portable system that is known for its innovation. Highly recommended.
Graphics
7.5
Detailed architecture when zoomed in, but graphics lose sharpness when viewed from afar. Animation adds personality and makes the game easily accessible to all crowds.
Gameplay
8.0
Touch screen controls are easy to grasp but can be sensitive at times. Features are plentiful, but some key elements from the PC games are noticeably absent.
Sound
7.0
Calculated soundtrack is nothing impressive, but at least it won’t make you beg for earplugs.
Lasting Appeal
9.0
From disasters striking to revamping neighborhoods, there’s always something to do. Build-a-City is perfect for drawn out projects, while Save-a-City provides a quick fix for individuals with short attention spans. Only one save slot per cartridge is a bu
Fun Factor
8.0
Entertaining mini-games offer a nice break from the traditional city-building goals.
